Poll: 6÷2(1+2)

[Eric's collar]

Division takes precedence over division. If bodmas is wrong then I don't think I can live with myself anymore.

 

[Castiel]

Oh I cant remember, be ages since I seen it.

Plus I am on my fifth pint of Cider

Only being one out is pretty darned good then.....

 

[aspirins]

There's a mnemonic if you really need it, but when you're resolving mixed terms like this you deal with multiplication > division > addition > subtraction,

This is wrong. Multiplication and division are interchangeable, as are addition and subtraction.

 

[Ksanti]

6/2(2+1)

Step 1: Do the calculation inside the bracket
6/2(3)

Step 2: This is the part that confuses people. Due to bodmas we divide 6 by 2. What the mistake
people make is they multiply the 3 & 2. This is wrong as 2(3) does not come under brackets in
bodmas but is multiplication. Quintessentially, the sum is now the same as (6/2)(3)

Step 3: laugh at others who think it is one.

I love it when idiots get arrogant.

Calculation of the bracket:
6/2(1+2) < Original equation
6/2(3) < Simplifying the bracket
6/6 < Expanding the bracket

Calculation of the division:
6/6 = 1

The whole original equation can be written as either
6/2(1+2)
or
6/(2*(1+2))
With no change in meaning.

Having a bracket implies not only a multiplication of the following number but brackets around that.

EDIT: Just to clear things up: BIDMAS means you put brackets before indices before multiplication AND division, before addition AND subtraction. If you have both, you work through from start to finish as the order does not affect the result.

 

[Nitefly]

I would answer 1.

If I'm wrong I'll quit my phd in maths.

Blimey, some big disagreements clearly

 

[guyfawkes5]

The question is fundamentally flawed. No physicist would touch that equation with a bargepole. If we replaced the numbers with variables we would have:

6 / 2(1+2) = x

a / b(c+b) = x

which does not clearly define what the solution could be as it will depend on the order of precedence. Also a/b(c+b) could be interpreted either as:

a
________
b(c+b)

or

a
_ (c+b)
b

No equation would leave itself to be so misconstrued.

Would not agree with you.

a / b(c+b) is =/= a / b * (c+b) in a practical sense. It is too open to interpretation.

This is also where you'll get the difference between pure mathematicians and engineers/physicists who use and apply maths.

There is no right or wrong answer as the users who are most qualified to discuss the problem have pointed out. It's all in the interpretation of the expression which is inherently unclear.

Maybe we should start linking these posts together to try and confront the 'my way or the highway' dunderheads who don't seem to understand they've fallen into the booby-trapped phrasiology of the question by ruling out another interpretation.

Nerd with Higher Levels in Leaving Cert (A Levels) Maths, Applied Maths, Physics, and a first year in Applied Maths at University with Mathematica, et cetera (passed by the way, only did a year in it because that's how my course was structured ), recognises that the problem can be 'legimately' interpreted both ways due to its purposeful ambiguity, but if pushed to see it either way would say '1' through experience with practical mathematics.

 

[aspirins]

The question isn't clear. There is no convention on whether multiplication or division comes first, so if you're writing a question like this, you put in extra brackets to dictate the order. This hasn't been done here, deliberately, to fuel this sort of response!

 

[nydryl]

Blimey, some big disagreements clearly

The majority of people here would see me out of a job

I'm confident, although to be honest I think the question is poorly written so that either answer is acceptable

 

[Barks]

Step 3: laugh at others who think it is one.

Those with a rigorous academic understanding into Mathematics or other academic subjects involving practical or theoretical application of maths are virtually all agreeing that there expression is inherently unclear and as such an answer of 9 is no better or worse than an answer of 1.

So poking fun at either those who answered 9 or 1 is retarded in itself.

 

[Castiel]

Right then, is it:

6/2(1+2)....6/2(3)......2x3=6.......6/6 = 1.


or

6/2(1+2)......6/2(3)......6/2=3.......3x3 = 9.


Is there anyone (BetaNumeric or other Math Phd) who can confirm which it is?


It is doing my head in....

 

[Eric's collar]

6/2(3) does not equal 6/(2(3)). The division sign only accounts for the 2.

 

[guyfawkes5]

I love it when idiots get arrogant.

I thought that too reading through the many pages of the thread.

In fairness started to doubt myself after some people got really aggressive and condescending that it was '9' and no other, but some enlightened folk with knowledge of maths outside of chewing a pencil at the age of 16 seem to have redeemed the topic eventually.

 

[panthro]

Whats the answer if you type it into a scientific calculator?

I would have answered 9, but Im useless at maths. Even if you dont think about BODMAS you still have 3x3 in the most simplistic view.

 

[Eric's collar]

I love it when idiots get arrogant.



.

I won a maths trophy in primary school. I think it's safe to say I'm not an idiot

 

[p4radox]

Right then, is it:

6/2(1+2)....6/2(3)......2x3=6.......6/6 = 1.


or

6/2(1+2)......6/2(3)......6/2=3.......3x3 = 9.


Is there anyone (BetaNumeric or other Math Phd) who can confirm which it is?


It is doing my head in....

There's no consensus: it's presented badly. But most people who use maths would instinctively get the answer 1 by evaluating 2(1+2) first.

(I don't have a phd so feel free to ignore me...)

 

[steve-h]

I would say 9.

I would also write it like this: (6/2)(1+2) = ?

 

[dowie]

This is how I see it:

6÷2(2+1) is the same as 6/2(2+1), which is:



Which is 1.

The division symbol is for tards. There I said it.

This is where the confusion lies

for the above to be written in a single line you'd need to state 6/(2(2+1))

otherwise, without the extra brackets, 6 is only divided by 2 and not by the entire expression on the right.

 

[Nitefly]

Right then, is it:

6/2(1+2)....6/2(3)......2x3=6.......6/6 = 1.


or

6/2(1+2)......6/2(3)......6/2=3.......3x3 = 9.


Is there anyone (BetaNumeric or other Math Phd) who can confirm which it is?


It is doing my head in....

My own reasoning (for the answer of one) was that X÷YZ is the same as X/YZ, which is the same as X/(Y multiplied by Z).

It just seems natural to me that X÷YZ is:

X
---
YZ

But apparently it's open to interpretation.

 

[Eric's collar]

This is where the confusion lies

for the above to be written in a single line you'd need to state 6/(2(2+1))

otherwise, without the extra brackets, 6 is only divided by 2 and not by the entire expression on the right.

This man speaks the truth.

 

[Brumboy]

I've been taught to always do brackets first, so that's (1+2) which is 3.

Then do 6 divided by 2 which equals 3.

Then you're left with 3 (3), which means you times 3 by the number in the brackets (which is 3) which gives you 9?

Or am I wrong haha.